The trouble I have with beds of small vegetables, like beets, is that they have to be weeded by hand! That is harder on my joints than it used to be, as I am no longer twenty-something.
Modern life can be wonderful. I have a raised bed with very few weeds in it, because I set the bed on top of woven greenhouse flooring! Grass and bindweed WOULD grow right up from deep in the soil into the bed, if they could, but they cannot get past the barrier! This effectively eliminates the most invasive weeds in my area. It is enough to weed it perhaps once a month, and I harvest it whenever I want the vegetables for the kitchen! I can kneel on the ground, place my hand on the low wall for balance, and reach in pretty darned well!
Construction was very simple. I rolled out the barrier, set up the sides of the bed, and I filled it with a loose medium. Weed seeds do blow onto the bed, but when the weeds sprout they are easily removed because the soil mix is so very loose. The soil medium does have to be fertilized at least yearly, and I do have to water a bit more often, but it is worth it to avoid so much weeding!
Last year I had beets planted. I harvested beet greens all summer long, and in the late fall we ate the beets and I gave it one last good weeding, to prepare the bed for the next year. This year I have planted most of it to onions, and I also stuck in a few strawberry plants and a broccoli plant that would not fit anywhere else.
